Canada Life International, one of Castletown’s biggest employers, is to pull out of the town after nearly 30 years - and move to new headquarters in Braddan.
The company today (Friday) unveiled plans for a new purpose-built corporate headquarters at Ballacottier Business Park.
The development, by Dandara Commercial, is currently under construction and is due for completion in March 2015.
Sean Christian, CLI’s Managing Director said: ‘The search for a new headquarters began back in 2008.
‘Our preference was always to remain in the south of the island as Castletown has served us extremely well since opening to business in 1987 and I would like to think we have become an important part of the local community.
‘Sadly, after considering the limited number of potential options over the last five years we concluded that there were no viable new developments or existing premises to accommodate our future needs in the south of the island.
‘The new development at the Ballacottier Business Park provides us with the flexibility to design a bespoke headquarters to cater fully for our future needs as well as providing ample car parking facilities which are not always possible with town centre developments.’
He added: ‘We have seen tremendous growth in our business over the years and this has naturally translated into increased staff numbers.
‘Whilst our existing office accommodation has served us well it is far from ideal being split across two separate buildings. We have set an exciting growth strategy for the business over the coming years and with that in mind our new offices on the Business Park have been designed to cater for a potential future headcount of up to 200.’
CLI, or Albany International as it was originally called, began in Castletown in 1987 with five staff, occupying the top floor of the old St Mary’s church in Castletown Square and taking over the whole building a few years later as the business grew.
In 2000, it expanded into a second office, Canada Life House on Alexandra Road.
At the end of 2010 the company exited St Mary’s and moved into leased premises on Mill Court on Hope Street while retaining Canada Life House. The company now employs over 140 staff in Castletown and administers close to £9bn of assets.